Featured Anybody else enjoy browsing Half Price Books?

They opened up a store about a year ago not very far away from me. My area is severely lacking in terms of bookstores after Borders went under a few years ago so I was excited for a new store. I really enjoy browsing their stacks, looking for something I might need. Generally they are a bit more expensive than online sellers but they have sales fairly often which helps. I've gotten a lot of great dvds out of their bargain dvd area which often has some good titles sprinkled in. I wish more retailers would get into the pre-owned marketplace, not everything has to be imported from China and I hate to see stuff go into the landfill while still useable/saleable.

 

LIKE!!! LIKE!!!! LIKE!!!!!

Without books, I am poor!

 

Hi,
I had a teacher instill in me books are your friends that will never hurt you or leave you.
greg

 

We used to have remainder book dealers in Toronto. (Remainders are publisher overstocks that they unload for pennies on the dollar.) Their biggest sale day was Boxing Day, and wild horses couldn't have stopped me from going.

They're all gone now.

 

If you're a reader and haven't discovered it already, there's a wonderful on-line book swapping community called paperbackswap.com. (Despite the name, hardbacks are swapped as well.) A great -- and inexpensive -- resource.

Debora

 

I have a storage unit. It has many fine shelves. All, crammed with books, must be about three thousand of them.

 

Our transfer station (used to be the dump but now everything is "transferred" out) has a swap shop with a lot of books. I never know what I may find there, I love looking through the books

 

My second grade teacher taught me, "You can go anywhere in the world and not leave your home, simply by reading."

 

Oh and she also taught us how to handle books when taking them from shelves, as well as how to open and prepare the pages of a new book.

 

Said it before, say it again... The three happiest places in the world are a library, a museum and a school campus.

Debora

 

May I just add: I LOVE my local public library! With little space to store books at home, I rarely buy them anymore, but I do make use of what's in my local library (the oldest in the state) as well as inter-library loan - a LOT!

 

The public library. A great Socialist institution.

Debora

 

Some people on the board might remember Avenue Victor Hugo Book Shop on Newbury Street in Boston. It was stuffed from floor to ceiling with books and magazines. The store's cat was always sleeping in the window. I spent hours in that store at least once a week but sadly, it closed. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I just went to Google to find an image and found they opened in a red barn in New Hampshire. Not quite the same as walking around the corner but if you live nearby, it's worth the trip.

https://avenuevictorhugobooks.com/about/

 

The Brattle Book Shop with the outdoor empty lot was also a favorite.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=e...hUKEwjBsPmG08DfAhVkg-AKHelUBEQQoiowDXoECAYQBg

 

Mill Cove, it's about an hour and a half/hour and 3/4 from me. One of these Saturdays (possibly not until spring!) I just may take a ride up there. Thanks for the heads up. I hadn't realized they had opened there.

 

Leary's in Philadelphia... Painting of "The Bookworm," by Carl Spitzweg was their bookplate. (Later I collected copies of the print) Was first taken there when I was in second grade. I was six, and I thought I'd gone to heaven!

I don't remember the first book my allowance bought me, but I DO remember one day when my parents left me there while they went shopping. I had orders to go to the car when I was finished, and wait for them. For the magnificent sum of $1.05, I gathered up three Nancy Drew's, and spent the time in the car reading, and finishing, "The Secret in the Old Clock." Was about to go back to Leary's and trade it in for a Judy Bolton, but my parents came back.

 

Anyone from SF Bay Area. I discovered Kepler's in high school. (Late 60s).
Would stop there whenever I was in the area.

 

Hmm, just got to thinking. Somewhere around here I have the first book I bought from them. The Whole Earth Catalog

 

We have one in the area and the parking lot is always full. Right now, everything is 20% off. However I heard yesterday from a smaller one-owner used book store that they were closing this next year, after about 20 years in business. They cited online access as the biggest cause but they only had street parking on a busy corner also. It was a very worthy used book store though along with really nice toys for kids, so it was pleasant shopping. And also easy to spend far more than I intended but it appears that's not just my problem @JayBee (thank goodness!). So that was sad to see but the owner wasn't too hampered, has another smaller store in a much smaller town, and has started a blog for readers: http://jamesbooks.net/ if that's okay to add here. Let me know if not. Yes, I will spend $50 on a book, esp good art books, but never for one article of clothing. Books take us to places beyond our known reality. How is that possible? The written language is more powerful than anything else imo - why it was denied to the masses for hundreds of centuries while controlfreaks dictated who we should be. No stopping us now, thanks to our insatiable and irrepressible curiosity, which they never seem to take into account (as though or what??). Lighted screens are just another form of access but actual books you can own and treasure, somehow dive deeper into the words, so I prefer them, yes.